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A Truly Operatic “Phantom of the Opera”

By Arthur Kaptainis on 29 November 2019 Musical Theatre, Opera

Baritenor. This is the intriguing if ambiguous word Hugo Laporte uses to describe the fach of the title role of Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, a French-language production which opens on Jan. 8 in the Théâtre St-Denis. “From what I understand, Broadway singers are often in this range and they call themselves baritones or tenors depending on the timbre of the voice,” he said in the Green Room of Meridian Hall in Toronto. The part of the “Phantom” (whose name is Erik, although he is never identified as such) demands two high As. This is the altitude also required by Rossini’s Figaro. Plus…

Editorial

By Wah Keung Chan on 27 November 2019 Arts Industry, Musical Theatre, Opera

Download PDFLa Scena Musicale’s Dec/Jan issue returns to a bilingual format. The cover features Hugo Laporte and Anne-Marine Suire in the upcoming production of The Phantom of the Opera in French translation in Montreal and Quebec City. Last month I promoted the idea that opera should start to be performed in the language of local audiences. They are already doing that in musical theatre. The issue also includes a special section on the recording industry. The demise of the classical music industry has been predicted for years, yet recordings are still coming out. Just the means of purchasing (CD, downloads…

WHITNEY ROBINSON, ALEX SOARE and KEELY FUTTERER as The Marquise, Sulpice and Marie; photo: Gary David Gold

Opera Saratoga 2019 – Tales of Girls Interrupted

By Charles Geyer on 7 July 2019 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Romantic, Theatre, Vocal

REVIEW: of Ellen West (the world premiere of a new work by Ricky Ian Gordon and Frank Bidart); and La fille du régiment (a new production of Donizetti’s 1840 comic opera). Opera Saratoga inaugurated its summer 2019 mainstage series on June 29 and 30 – the same weekend as the highly-touted “WorldPride 50” celebration. The latter event, of course, originated as homage to the purported founding moment of the modern gay rights movement; but it has by now pullulated far beyond its initial meaning, becoming a portmanteau affirmation of self-identities of all stripes. It is interesting, then, that – whether…

Baritone Tyler Duncan in "Leonardo" by Jonathan Berger

Da Vinci Our Contemporary – The Legendary Renaissance Polymath Arrives Center Stage in Composer Jonathan Berger’s New Monodrama

By Charles Geyer on 5 April 2019 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Education, La Scena Online, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Visual Arts

PREVIEW: of the world premiere of Leonardo, a new operatic monodrama about Leonardo da Vinci by composer Jonathan Berger at NYC’s 92nd Street Y; and INTERVIEW: with composer/librettist Jonathan Berger. “Che cos’è uno starnuto?” Leonardo da Vinci asks himself – and his audience – at the top of composer Jonathan Berger’s new one-man opera, Leonardo. “What is a sneeze?” It may seem a disarmingly piddling question from one of history’s most titanic intellectual figures – but that is precisely composer Jonathan Berger’s point. “Leonardo’s greatest asset was his unabashed asking of simple questions,” Berger says, “and through those questions arriving…

Ryan Cavanagh (Phil), Adriana M. Scheer (Judy), Emily Edwards (Betty), and Michael Mingoia (Bob) in the Smithtown Performing Arts Center production of Irving Berlin's White Chrismtas; photo: Courtney Braun

White Christmas in Smithtown

By Charles Geyer on 16 December 2018 La Scena Online, Musical Theatre, Theatre

REVIEW: of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas – the Musical, running through December 30, 2018 at the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, Suffolk County, New York (2 East Main Street, Smithtown, New York); viewed here November 23. Forget herald angels, provident stars, gifting magi, or even Santa Claus. For Irving Berlin, the true miracle of Christmas is showbiz, with its sovereign power to right all wrongs and heal all hearts. Such is the essential theme of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas – the Musical, now performing at the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts in New York’s Suffolk County (as well as…

Soprano Hyunah Yu in the middle, flanked by players from Piffaro and Prism, at the premiere of “The Anchoress” at the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia); photo by Pete Checchia/Philadelphia Chamber Music Society

“The Anchoress” – Songs of a Soul in Solitude

By Charles Geyer on 4 November 2018 Art Song, Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Experimental Jazz, Interviews, La Scena Online, Music Competition, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Vocal, World Music

REVIEW: of The Anchoress, a world premiere of a new musical monodrama/song cycle composed by David Serkin Ludwig with text by Katie Ford, performed by soprano Hyunah Yu, accompanied by saxophone quartet PRISM and ancient-instrument ensemble Piffaro; on Wednesday, October 17, at the Perelman Theatre of Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and on Thursday, October 18, at New York City’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music (the latter performance reviewed here); and INTERVIEWS: with composer David Ludwig and poet Katie Ford. The impulse to retreat from the world in search of spiritual insight or purity has manifested throughout human history. Twenty-one centuries of Christianity…

The Monster (baritone Joshua Jeremiah) from Gregg Kallor's Frankenstein Suite; presented by The Angel's Share; photo by Kevin Condon

New York City October Surprises: Lang on the High Line, Kallor in the Catacombs

By Charles Geyer on 31 October 2018 Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Choral, Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Education, Experimental Jazz, La Scena Online, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Piano, Popular Music, Scena Arts, Technology, Theatre, Vocal

REVIEW: of works by composers David Lang and Gregg Kallor – The Mile-Long Opera by Lang, performed on the High Line; and sketches from The Frankenstein Suite, plus the monodrama “The Telltale Heart,” by Kallor, performed in the Catacombs of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Some uncanny musical surprises graced unusual locations both above and below New York City street-level during the early part of Halloween month. Here’s a diary retrospective. Going the Extra Mile Beginning at twilight on six consecutive evenings (October 3 through 8; viewed October 7), Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer David Lang and a host of collaborators presented a unique choral…

The audience playing the part of “The Water” at Festival O18’s Queens of the Night: Dito and Aeneas at the Theatre of Living Arts; photo by Steven Pisano

Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O18: The Whirlwind That Was

By Charles Geyer on 29 October 2018 Baroque and Early, Choral, Classical, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Multimedia, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Theatre, Visual Arts

REVIEW: of Opera Philadelphia’s “Festival O18” (September 20-30, 2018) – a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, composed by Gaetano Donizetti with libretto by Salvadore Cammarano; the world premiere of Sky on Swings, composed by Lembit Beecher with libretto by Hannah Moscovitch; the premiere of Ne quittez pas (a “reimagined” La voix humaine of Francis Poulenc, with a new prologue featuring numerous of the composer’s art songs); the premiere of Glass Handel, an immersive concert experience featuring countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo performing music by George Frideric Handel and Philip Glass; and Queens of the Night: Blythely After Hours, an opera/rock…

Once: From Film to Stage

By Susan Gray on 4 October 2018 Musical Theatre, Popular Music

The opening show of the Segal Centre fall season is the musical Once, which won eight Tony Awards in 2012, including best song (“Falling Slowly”) and best musical. Once is based on the low-budget 2007 Irish film of the same name directed by John Carney about a Dublin-based busker and vacuum repairman and his relationship with a Czech immigrant who is an aspiring pianist and single mother. Their friendship quickly develops into a complex, passionate love story built on their love of music. The film’s soundtrack also garnered an Academy Award and a Grammy. The Montreal production is set in…

Faith and Folly — Taking Up Serpents, a New American Opera, Bows in Boston

By Charles Geyer on 26 September 2018 Art Song, Choral, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Indigenous, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Uncategorized, Vocal

PREVIEW: of a public workshop performance with orchestra of the new opera Taking Up Serpents – libretto by Jerre Dye, score by Kamala Sankaram; presented by MassOpera, Boston; Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 3 p.m.; Deane Hall at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts (527 Tremont Street, Boston); the opera is a commission of the Washington National Opera and this workshop is presented by MassOpera. In the final passages of St. Mark’s Gospel, Christ declares that a hallmark among his true believers shall be a willingness that “they shall take up serpents!” And in certain quarters…

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